Today is the first day of fall! And here in Phoenix we got the unexpected treat of weather below 90 degrees and even a little bit of rain! It is still pretty warm, but it feels like a cozy day and I indulged in some hot caramel apple cider and am not hating the idea of going outside!

Photo by Katherine Miles Jones

Ever since I spent some time back East and actually experienced Fall, it has become my favorite season. Even now that we are back in AZ where seasons are really only classified as “hot” and “less hot” it remains one of my favorite times of year. And I think the aforementioned feeling of being cozy coupled with the culmination of Autumn being Thanksgiving (even though I know it technically lasts almost a month after that) are some of the primary things that fuel my love for this time of year even when there is not a lot of foliage to watch change colors and people think we’re crazy if we order our Pumpkin Spice Lattes hot instead of ice. (Or in my case… not at all… double coffee time next year to make up for it!!)
Aside from general feelings of good will and the delicious smells and tastes of the season, Fall brings up a lot of personally wonderful memories. And all those memories, appropriately, are related to a whole lot of change- which is at the heart of seasons in general, but especially fall when change and letting go are so gorgeously depicted in the leaves and the shorter days calling us to make the most of daylight.

Engagement photo courtesy of my mom 🙂

It was in the fall that I fell in love. Fighting it hard as I could, the man who would become my husband captured my heart, and one of the ways he did that was listening to me gush about wanting to frolic in leaves and then waking up early one morning to go onto our grad school campus and rake a giant pile for us to play in after one of our morning walks. Changing my heart and opening up to someone was intensely scary for me. It’s the best change that’s ever happened to me.

I didn’t get engaged in the fall, but my engagement came through my husband recreating that fall date- saving leaves from the East Coast and shipping them to Arizona to mimic that fall day. It seemed like everything changed as we decided to become a family.

And then everything changed again three years ago on this very day when what started as a day celebrating the first day of fall turned into the day we celebrated finding out that a new member was joining our little family.

Photo by Katherine Miles Jones

So now fall is here again, and we are once again looking forward to our family growing- but instead of just finding out, I can already feel little kicks and nudges- little signs that the long, rough summer was worth it and that letting go of expectations- of the way our family is now and the life we’ve grown used to with a single child- will be as beautiful as those gorgeous leaves falling to the ground in the months to come.

So while part of me has longed to just jump ahead to 2017 and just ignore this transitional time… It is going to be nice to revel in fall and experience all the love that comes along with it. Happy fall y’all… I’m going to keep celebrating by buying some leggings and eating a pumpkin flavored baked good!